Obj. ID: 46046
Memorials Monument to the Killed Jews in the Paneriai Memorial, Lithuania, 1991
To the main object: Paneriai Memorial in Vilnius, Lithuania, from 1948 to 2015
Memorial name
Monument in memory of the Jews killed in Paneriai.
Who is Commemorated?
The Jews killed in Paneriai.
Description:
The monument is situated in the center of the memorial complex.
It is a high stele made of four large gray granite blocks; the uppermost block is narrower and is covered with a segment-arched stone.
On the monuments front side, a recessed dark panel with semicircular head resembling the form of a traditional tombstone, contains a Star of David in its upper part and similar inscriptions in Hebrew and Yiddish. On the lower tier, a metal cast menorah is attached. Its branches contain narrative scenes which are hard to discern; It seems that they show crowds of Jews going to mass killing site via trench, but this topic should be checked separately.
The lower tier of the back side of the monument also features a menorah depicted on a granite plaque. Above the menorah, identical inscriptions in Lithuanian, English, and Russian repeat the text of the Hebrew and Yiddish inscriptions on the front. Above the inscriptions is the depiction of a Jewish figure with raised hands. A donor’s inscription in Hebrew and English is located on a granite plaque on the right-hand side of the monument.
On its left-hand side, a metal plaque commemorates the first state visit of the president of Israel to Lithuania.
Inscriptions:
On the front side:
In Hebrew:
מצבת זכרון
לשבעים אלף יהודי ווילנא והסביבה
שנרצחו ונשרפו
בגיא ההריגה פאנאר
על ידי הנאצים ועוזריהם
בשנות השואה תש"ב – תש"ד (1941 – 1944)
ת.נ.צ.ב.ת. [ה.]
Translation: Monument of memory / to seventy thousand Jews of Vilnius and vicinity / that were murdered and burned / in the valley of death Ponar / by the Nazis and their helpers / in the years of the Shoah (5)702 [sic] – (5)704 (1941 – 1944). May their souls be bound in the bundle of life.
In Yiddish:
צום אייביקן אנדענק
די 70000 יידן פון ווילנע און אומגעגנט,
וועלכע די נאצי-רוצחים און
זייערע מיטהעלפער חאפן [האבן]
דערמארדעט און פארברענט
דא, אין פאנאר, אין די יארן 1941 – 1944
Translation: For eternal memory / of seventy thousand Jews of Vilnius and vicinity / that Nazi murderers and their helpers / killed and burned / here, in Ponar, in the years 1941–1944.
On the back side:
In Lithuanian:
Amžinas atminimas 70 000 Vilniaus ir
apylinkės žydų, kuriuos čia, Paneriuose,
nužudė ir sudegino nacistiniai budeliai
bei jų talkininkai
In English:
Eternal memory of 70 000 Jews of Vilnius
and its environs who were murdered and
burnt here, in Paneriai, by Nazi executioners
and their accomplices
In Russian:
Вечная память убитым и сожженным
здесь, в Панеряй, 70 000 евреев Вильнюса и
его окрестностей нацистскими палачами
и их пособниками
Donor’s inscription on the right-hand side:
In Hebrew:
יוזם ונתרם ע"י
משפחת
ישעיה אפשטין
תל-אביב
תשנ"א
In English:
Donated
by the family
Sh. Epstein,
Tel Aviv
1991
Inscriptions on a metal plaque attached to the left-hand side of the monument:
In Hebrew:
לזכר קורבנות היהודיים אשר נרצחו ביער פונאר
משה קצב, נשיא מדינת ישראל
ולדאס אדמקוס, נשיא הרפובליקה של ליטא
ביקור ממלכתי ראשון של נשיא מדינת ישראל בליטא
22 בספטמבר 2005
י"ח באלול תשס"ח [ה]
In Lithuanian:
Panerių miške nužudytų žydų atminimui
Izraelo valstybės prezidentas Moshe Katsavas
Lietuvos Respublikos prezidentas Valdas Adamkus
Izraelio valstybės prezidento
pirmojo valstybinio vizito Lietuvoje proga
2005 metų rugsėjo 22 diena
In English:
In memory of
the Jewish victims who were murdered
in the Paneriai Forest
H.E. Moshe Katsav,
President of the State of Israel
H.E. Valdas Adamkus,
President of the Republic of Lithuania
The first state visit of the president of Israel
in Lithuania
22nd September, 2005
Commissioned by
Yeshayahu Epstein, the Lithuanian Jewish community, and the Government of the Republic of Lithuania
sub-set tree:
According to the Paneriai Museum website:
"The monument in memory of the Jews killed in Paneriai was erected on 20 June 1991, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the start of the war between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union and the beginning of the Holocaust. The monument, designed by architect Jaunutis Makariūnas, is reminiscent of an old monument that was destroyed by the Soviets in 1949-1952, during the Stalinist anti-Semitic campaign."
"The monument was initiated by Joshua Epstein, a citizen of Vilnius living in Israel, who donated personal funds for this purpose, and the Lithuanian Jewish community. The Government of the Republic of Lithuania also partially supported the monument. This commemorative memorial is the central monument visited annually on 23 September to mark the Day of Remembrance for Jewish Victims of Genocide in Lithuania."
The speech of Yeshayahu Epstein at the opening ceremony was published in Vilna yerushalayim de-lita hareva, pp. 5-8.
Guzenberg, Irina, Vilnius: Traces of the Jewish Jerusalem of Lithuania. Memorable Sites of Jewish History and Culture. A Guidebook (Vilnius: Pavilniai, 2021)., 739.
Itzhak Alfasi (ed.), Vilna yerushalayim de-lita hareva! haita ve-einena od (Tel Aviv, 1993), 3-8.
Website of The Paneriai Memorial of Vilna Gaon State Jewish Museum, "Monument in memory of the Jews killed in Paneriai," https://www.paneriumemorialas.lt/en/paminklas-zydu-atminimui-m9/., https://www.paneriumemorialas.lt/en/objektai/ (accessed January 25, 2023)